Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Leah Koschak. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Leah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I had been working as an entrepreneur in a different industry for 7 years when I decided I needed to change up my environment. I craved doing something creative, which was lacking in the business I was in. I brainstormed over the next couple of months, trying to figure out what *it* was that I should be doing. I began writing down ideas from course creation to photo booth rentals, trying to figure out what it was that I wanted to do. I quickly became discouraged, I was just not vibing with the ideas that were coming up. So I hit pause on it for a brief time.

Not too long after this, I received a call that would forever change the trajectory of my life. My step dad, who was near and dear to me, had suddenly passed away. Through my grief in the days that followed, I wanted to refocus my pain. I wanted to relive all the memories that felt good. So I opened up my wedding photo gallery and started sifting through it. As I came across the photos of my step dad, a little glimpse of joy started to creep back up to the surface. All of the memories from that day came flooding back. And then out of nowhere, an idea popped in my head. The clarity I was looking for had finally shown up. I thought about all the things from that day that I enjoyed the most – the people, the environment, the joy. I wanted to create that for other people. I wanted to create an environment for other people to look back on and have fond memories of. An environment that can bring joy back if they find themselves on a similar path.

For the next couple of weeks, I wrote down every possible thing I could think of. I wrote down what I needed to research, what type of things I wanted to create, where I will market, who I will serve – literally anything and everything, I just wrote it down. Then as I dove in deeper, I realized that there was still so much to “figure out”, but I just wanted to start. So I did just that. I took messy action and just started. I launched my website, instagram page, and shared my exciting new venture with my friends and family – and 1 week later, the entire world shut down.

I was determined to not let this stop me. Instead I put my head down, joined a mentorship program in the industry and kept getting after it; learning more and more about the people, the ins and outs, and spent the next 4-5 months building my inventory and never giving up hope that I would “re-launch” in the fall.

As fall rolled closer, it was actually looking more and more grim as this was when weddings began to stop. People started canceling or pushing their wedding dates – but again, I was not going to let this be the end of my story. I mean it hadn’t even really began yet. So I decided to keep with my fall launch and I would figure it out as I go. The next 6+ months following my re-launch, I spent countless hours collaborating with other creatives in my industry doing styled shoots. With more and more shoots, I built my portfolio and instagram and more and more inquiries were coming in for my rentals for the upcoming year.

When I think back to the beginning days of both launches, I could’ve had so many reasons to not keep pursuing it. I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but I did know that my business would most likely change anyways, so taking messy action was the only logical next step. And I kept taking messy action, and kept pivoting and changing as I got more experience under my feet.

Leah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a kid, I was always rearranging my room. I was constantly changing my room theme and even started rearranging stuff in the other parts of the house. I first became an entrepreneur when I was a single mom to a 2 year old daughter. I learned how to create a business from scratch and relentlessly pursued what made my soul tick. After 7 years in my previous industry, it started to feel dull. I didn’t feel like my full potential was met and I wanted something more. I wanted something creative and challenging. Then through tragedy, I found myself with clarity of this next venture.

I do feel like my business evolves a little bit every 6 months that I’m doing this. I am finding things that I want more of and things I want less of… and I adjust. This is important for clients as well, because they know that whatever it is that I’m offering, I’m putting all of my heart into it.

Currently, I am really loving creating luxury picnics. Although the market is becoming saturated with more and more picnic companies, I know that my picnics will continue to stand out from the crowd. While some of the other companies use the same designs over and over again, my goal is to be the option for those who want an elevated, *always unique*, custom created design, with every single detail thoughtfully and intentionally created – just for them. A true luxurious experience.

I am also really loving creating warm and inviting areas for people to relax + renew. Our lounges are curated to truly feel like home. Our pieces are easy to mix and match to create a unique vibe for any environment.

I’m most proud of just taking the risk on this business. There are so many things that could’ve stopped me from pursuing it, but I chose to push past the obstacles and do it anyway. I am passionate about my work. I care deeply about everything I create. And I value each and every client who chooses to work with me; in any way, shape, or form.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was “if you build it, they will come”.

In the summer of 2021, I took a huge risk and signed a (very expensive) lease on a space. I brainstormed the different business ventures that’d take place in the space. I mapped out all the renovations I needed to make to. I envisioned the success.

After getting the keys, I spent months with renovations, doing it all by myself. It was finally time to launch the space – I put together a fun set up and marketed it for a couple weeks leading up to the launch party. It seemed like there was a possibility for a good turn out – but boy was I wrong. The turn out was quite embarrassing, to be honest. But nonetheless, I had to keep pushing forward and get on with it.

The holidays were rolling up, so I decided to do a little holiday photoshoot set up – overall revenue hit about maybe 50% of what I envisioned. Not a total loss, but nothing to write home about.

Fast forward through the next 8 months; a good handful of photoshoot bookings, some event bookings, but I was bleeding dry. I was paying way more in rent than the small revenue that was coming in. So I had to get honest with myself.

While I understood that getting a new businesses off the ground took time, I realized that just because I built a beautiful space, it didn’t mean that people would come – (UNLESS I was in the right season to full commit to it 100%) And at that moment, I was not.

A business venture that has huge overhead like mine did, requires a lot of time. And with my rental business growing and a toddler at home with me, I didn’t have the time or energy to give it the focus it needed. So at the end of my year lease, I decided to take this as a lesson learned.

My arms are open for another opportunity, someday. But I know that the timing needs to be right, and expectations need to be more realistic when it comes to the time and effort needed to get it off the ground.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve been pivoting in my business since I started it. The first year in my business, I wanted to try it all. I didn’t know what I liked or didn’t like, so I figured I’ll start big and figure it out from there. As I got more experience, I quickly realized there were things that didn’t bring me joy at all, and I needed to get rid of it asap. About every 6 months or so, I do a pulse check on my business and think about the things I’m doing, and I ask myself what I want more of, and what I want less of. Then I immediately put it into action.

I started building out a lot of tabletop rentals in my business. I had 4 huge racks holding the plates, glassware, and flatware that I had been collecting over the last year. I really loved creating beautiful tablescapes using my rentals, but I was quickly realizing that all the work I spent boxing, unboxing, washing, boxing, putting back on the racks – was not worth it for the small rent I was getting. I looked at the numbers and made the decision to pivot into building out inventory that took less time to prep and had more opportunity for making a larger rental.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thefondcollective.com
• Instagram: @thefondcollective
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